i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 



# ~ # 

| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 




THE ANGELS APPEARING TO THE SHEPHERDS. 




kit Jesus. 



Wis Birth, Wis Life, 

Wis Payables, and 

His Miracles. 



By UK CLE JESSE, 

Author of "The Sea-Shore," "Talks about War? etc. 



1 1 




CINCINNATI: 
WESTERN TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY, 

No. 176 Elm Street. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 186$, by the 

WESTERN TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Uaited States, for the 
Southern District of Ohio. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

The Shepherds and the Child 5 

Other Visitors- 8 

The Dreams '. 12 

Killing the Children 16 

Going Home again 20 

Going to Jerusalem 23 

Jesus in the Temple 28 

The Baptist . 31 

The Temptation 36 

Calling the Disciples 40 

How Jesus looked. 43 

How Jesus lived 48 

How Jesus worked Miracles 53 

How Jesus prayed 57 

How Jesus taught ~. 61 

The Good Shepherd , 65 

The Sower and the Seed 69 

The Vine and the Branches 73 

The Fig-tree 77 

Children in the Market-place 82 

The Neglected Supper 86 

The Wedding Garment 90 

Feeding the Multitude 94 

Miracles 97 

The Blind Men 100 

The Deaf and Dumb Man 103 

Peter and John's Miracle 106 



TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE SHEPHERDS AND THE CHILD. 




T was night, but the sky was clear, 
and the stars twinkled as if they 
had a great secret that they wanted 
to tell to the people on earth. Out in the 
fields there were some men watching flocks 
of sheep, that fed on the grass around them. 
All at once it became as light as day. The 
men looked up, and there was an angel in 
the sky above them. He seemed to shine 
like the sun. They were afraid. But the 
angel said, " Do not be afraid, for I have 
come to bring you good news. In the town 
close by a child has just been born, who 
shall save you from all your sins, and make 
you happy. Go and see him. You will 



TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



find him at the stable of the tavern. His 
mother has just laid him in the manger, 
because she has no other place." 

And, as soon as he stopped speaking, 
there came a great many angels. They 
sang altogether, and most sweetly, this 
song: 

"Glory to God, 
Peace on the earth, 
Good-will to men." 

No man ever sang so beautifully. The 
men would have loved to listen to those 
angels all night. 

But soon they went back to heaven ; and 
then the men said : " Let us leave our 
sheep, and go to town, and see this won- 
derful child that the angels have told us 
about." 

So they went into the town, (its name 
was Bread Town in their language,) and 
there they found, in the stable, a man and 
his wife, and a little child. It w r as all just 
as the angels had told them, and they were 
very glad. And they told what they had 
seen out in the field to the man and his 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE CHILD. 



wife, and then went back to their sheep, 
singing praises to God. 

Although the child's parents were poor, 
they felt sure that God had given them a 
child that would grow up to be a great and 
good man, and they were very glad, and 
loved the child very much. 

I want you now to tell me the name of that 
child, and whose son people thought he 
was, and whose son he really was, and 
where he w T as born, and why he was born 
there, and how taverns are built in the 
East, and where the man and his wife had 
been when they stopped at that tavern, 
and where they lived, and what was the 
man's trade; where was Bread Town, and 
what is the name of it in the Bible, and 
why was it called so. 



TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER II. 

OTHER VISITORS. 

jJFTER the shepherds went away — 
perhaps the same night, and per- 
haps several days later — another 
company of men came to see the infant in 
the manger. These men came from a great 
distance. They probably traveled on camels, 
as almost every body travels that way in 
the East when they have deserts to cross. 
These men were very fond of looking at the 
stars, and they thought that they could tell 
by the looks and motions of the stars what 
was going to happen on the earth. This 
was a foolish notion. But God sometimes 
uses even men's foolish notions to bring 
them where they will learn the truth and 
be made better. These star-gazers had the 
sky all marked off, and each part they said 
belonged to one of the nations of the earth. 



OTHER VISITORS. 9 



When any thing very bright or strange 
appeared in a particular part, they thought 
something wonderful was going to happen 
in the nation that this part belonged to. 
One night they saw a very large star in 
the part of the sky that belonged to the 
Jews, and they said to each other, " Some- 
thing very strange must have happened 
among the Jews. Perhaps a child has 
been born who is to be their King. Let 
us go and see." 

So they started, and traveled a great 
many days, on their camels. At last they 
reached the Capital of the Jews, and they 
began to ask every body, " Where is he 
that is born to be King of the Jews ? We 
have seen his star in the East, where we 
live, and have come to worship him." And 
the people all said, " There is no such child 
here." And the man who was king of the 
Jews then, said that he did not know any 
thing about such a child. At last they 
went up to the temple, and asked the priests 
there, and they took down a piece of parch- 
ment and unrolled it, and said they thought 



10 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



that there was something in it about the 
child. And they hunted; and at last they 
found that a Prince was to be born in Beth- 
lehem. So the men from the East thought 
that they would go to Bethlehem, and ask. 
It was only six miles off, and soon they 
were there. It was a little town. They 
asked the people, and they told them that 
there was an infant at the stable of the tav- 
ern. So the men went there ; though they 
thought it was a strange place for a King to 
be born in. And when they got to the stable, 
there was the star right over it, and shining 
down as if it wanted to say, " This is the 
place." And when the men saw the star 
they were very glad, and went in. And when 
they saw the child in its mother's arms they 
kneeled down around it, and called it a 
King. Then they told its mother about the 
star, and they took out some most beauti- 
ful and costly presents, and gave them to 
the little child. 

Do you not think it very strange, chil- 
dren, that those men should have traveled 
so far, just to see a little child? And that 



OTHER VISITORS. 11 



when they found it in a stable they still 
thought it was a young King, and gave it 
costly gifts ? 

Now tell me, what were these men called 
in the Bible? And what country did they 
come from ? And what was the name of 
the city, that they first went to? And 
what book did the priests in the temple read 
from about Bethlehem? Was it a printed 
book ? What language was it in ? Was the 
little child really a King? And what kind 
of a King was he ? Where is that child 
now? Can we go to him? Ought we to 
worship him? And what present does he 
want us to bring, and give to him? What 
kind of a star is he called sometimes? And 
do y^u know a hymn about that star ? 



12 



TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTEK III. 

THE DREAMS. 

jlOU remember the king that the men 
from the East saw in Jerusalem. 
He made them believe that he was 
very glad the child was born, and that he 
would like to see it. And he told them if 
they found it, they should bring word back 
to him. And they said that they would. 
They could not look into the king's heart, 
and see what he was thinking about. But 
there was Somebody, who did look right 
into his heart, and read it, as well as you 
read this book; and he saw that the king 
wanted to kill the little child. He was a 
wicked, cruel king, and he was afraid that 
the child, when it grew to be a man, might 
punish him for his wickedness ; so he meant 
to kill it. 

But He who read the king's heart loved 



THE DREAMS. 13 



the little child, and said that it should not 
be killed. Who was he, children? And 
why did he love the little child ? 

I have told you how the wise men went 
to Bethlehem, and found the child, and wor- 
shiped it. After they had given it their 
presents, they went into the tavern, and 
went to bed. They thought that, in the 
morning, they would go back to Jerusalem, 
and tell the king. They went to sleep. In 
the morning one of them woke up and said, 
" I had a strange dream last night. I 
dreamed that an angel came and said to me, 
'Don't go to Jerusalem; the king is afraid 
of the little child, and wants to kill it — 
don't tell him any thing about it.'" And 
the others said they had all dreamed the 
same dream. So they thought that it must 
be true, and they said, " We will not tell 
and body about the child, but will go right 
home as quietly as we can." 

So they loaded up their camels, and start- 
ed away from Bethlehem, and went back to 
the country where they lived. 

Children, how did they all happen to 



14 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



dream the same dream, and a true one 
too? 

The next night, while the father of the 
little child was asleep, he thought he heard 
some one talking to him. And he looked, 
and there was an angel standing beside 
his bed. What the angel said, you will find 
in the thirteenth verse of the second chapter 
of Matthew. 

And after the dream the man woke up, 
and he arose, though it was in the middle of 
the night, and he awoke his wife, and told 
her what he had dreamed , and she got up, 
too. And they dressed themselves and the 
child, and packed up their things (they did 
not have a great many, for they were poor), 
and started off as still as they could. They 
got out of town without waking any body, 
and traveled off south, in the dark. 

They had no carriage to ride in, but only 
a mule to carry their things, I expect; so 
the man and his wife had to walk, and carry 
the child in their arms. Poor little babe ! 
to have to go away in the night because a 
wicked king wanted to kill it ! 



THE DREAMS. 15 



Now, children, I want you to find out the 
name of the wicked king. I want you to 
think about dreams, and whether these peo- 
ple were right in believing them. I want 
you to find out where they took the little 
child, and how old it was at this time. 



16 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER IV. 

KILLING THE CHILDREN. 

HE king waited a good many days, 
thinking that the men from the 
East would come back and tell him 
about the little child; but, after awhile, he 
heard that they had gone home, without 
coming to see him. And he was very angry, 
and thought that they must have found the 
child, and were afraid to tell him. And he 
said to himself, in his wicked heart, " I will 
kill that child, even if I can't find it. I will 
send my soldiers, with their sharp swords, 
down to Bethlehem, and I will tell them to 
kill every male child there, that is less than 
two years old. Among them this ' King of 
the Jews ' will be sure to perish." 

What do you think, children, of such a 
plan as that, and of such a king? Would 
you like to live in a country where such a 



KILLING THE CHILDREN. 17 



king ruled, and could do just what he chose 
to? 

Well, the king sent for his soldiers, and 
told them what he wanted them to do ; and 
the soldiers said, "Yes, king, we will go." 
It is the business of soldiers to kill people. 
Would you like to be a soldier ? 

I do n't know how many soldiers there 
were in the company ; but they took a 
piece of paper from the king, called a de- 
cree, and started off to Bethlehem. The 
decree read something like this : 

" I, Herod, the king, command you to go 
to Bethlehem, and to kill all the children 
that are boys and less than two years old." 
And to this paper there was a big seal. 
When the soldiers got to Bethlehem, some 
of them stood at the gate and in the streets, 
to see that nobody ran away. And the rest 
went into the houses to hunt for children to 
kill. 

Nobody in Bethlehem knew that the sol- 
diers were coming ; some of the infants were 
prattling in their mother's arms, and some 
were asleep in their cradles. But wherever 
2 



18 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



one of the soldiers found a baby boy he 
took it, and, in spite of all his mother's 
screams and tears, he cut its head off with 
his sharp sword, and threw it down dead, 
and went out. So they went all over town, 
and did not spare a single male child that 
was less than two years old. 

Don't you think that there must have 
been a great many mothers crying for their 
children that day in Bethlehem ? And that 
it was a most cruel thing to kill so many 
little boys, that were just able to creep 
about, or to walk, or to prattle a few 
words ? 

How many children did the soldiers kill 
in all ? Did they kill Jesus among the rest? 
Where was he at this time? And how long 
did he stay there? Can you find out any 
body else whom this king Herod slew ? Did 
he slay John the Baptist? What became 
of this wicked king ? How did he die ? 

What is a country called when a king 
rules over it? And what is it called when 
the king can do just as he pleases ? Could 
any body in our country send and kill chil- 



KILLING THE CHILDREN. 19 



dren in this way ? What kind of a govern- 
ment is ours ? Does one man make all the 
laws for us ? 

Why have we not a king, like the Jews ? 
Who is our King? Can he take care of 
every little child, as he took care of the 
child Jesus ? 



20 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER V. 

GOING HOME AGAIN. 

HE carpenter Joseph and his wife 
did not like to live in Egypt. The 
people were all strangers to them 
there, and, what was worse yet, they were 
idolaters. Can you tell me, children, what 
an idolater is? and about some of the 
idols that they worshiped in Egypt? What 
were their names? and what did they look 
like ? Would you want to live where there 
are no Christian people, and no churches, 
and no sabbath-schools, and where every 
body prayed to stones, and snakes, and 
oxen? 

Every evening, when Joseph came in 
from his work, he and Mary would talk about 
their home, and wish that they could get 
back again. One evening, after talking 
about it a long time, they went to sleep. 



GOING HOME AGAIN. 21 



and Joseph dreamed that an angel came to 
him, and said, "Arise, and take the young 
child and his mother, and go into the land 
of Israel; for they are dead which sought 
the young child's life." 

Why did not Joseph read about Herod's 
death in the newspapers ? Why did God 
send an angel to tell him of it? 

Joseph was very glad of the dream. He 
thought it came from God. So he got up in 
the morning, and took the child and its 
mother, and started for the Land of Israel. 
What way did he go — north or south, east 
or west? And how far did he go? Over 
what kind of country did he travel ? — a 
country with farms, and houses, and good 
roads, like ours? Can you think of any 
body else in the Bible who went down to 
Egypt from the Land of Israel, and of any 
persons who came up out of Egypt, and 
went to Canaan ? 

When Joseph got back to Bethlehem, he 
was afraid to stay there, for he heard that 
one of Herod's sons was king in his place, 
and he thought that the son might be just as 



22 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



bad as the father. So he went on into an- 
other province, that was under another ruler. 

Fifty or sixty miles north of Jerusalem, 
there was a beautiful town built on the side 
of a hill, with steep mountains all around it. 
Joseph thought that this would be a safe 
place to live in ; but he soon found that the 
people there were very wicked. So wicked, 
indeed, that it was a common saying all over 
the land, that nothing good could come out 
of that place. Can you tell me the name of 
this town, and the name of the province in 
which it was, and the name of the king or 
governor of it at that time ? And tell me 
also the name of Herod's son, who reigned 
in Judea. 

How long did Jesus live in this place? 
and what name did he get by living there? 



GOING TO JERUSALEM. 23 




CHAPTER VI. 

GOING TO JERUSALEM. 

jlT was in April, but it was not cold 
and stormy, as it is here in April. 
It was warm and mild, like June. 
Long, clear, sunny days, so pleasant to 
travel in. And every body was starting off. 
Where can they be going? See ! they bring 
out cloth for tents, and food to eat during 
the journey, and pots, and dishes ; and, last 
of all, they bring out a lamb — a beautiful 
white lamb about a year old, with its horns 
just beginning to grow. What are they 
taking it for? And now they start, a great 
company of men, women, and children. 
They go down the south side of the hill, and 
sing as they go. 

Where are these people from Nazareth 
all going? What feast did the Jews keep in 
April? And what did they keep it for? 



24 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



And what day do some people keep yet in 
April, because of what happened at one of 
these feasts of the Jews ? And why do lit- 
tle boys like to have colored eggs about that 
time? 

Now let us go back and look at these 
travelers. There, among them, is an old 
man and his wife and a little boy twelve 
years of age. I do not know whether he 
was a pretty boy or not, but I am sure that 
he was a very good one. He always did 
just what his 'parents told him to. Do you 
know of any little boy or girl that is just 
like him in this ? 

The boy was delighted with what he saw 
all along the way; but when, on the third 
day, he got to the top of a hill, and saw just 
before them a beautiful city, with a large 
building in the midst of it, that shone, in the 
sunbeams, like gold, and all the people began 
singing again, he was so happy that I think 
he must have cried for joy. Oh, how he 
had wanted to see Jerusalem and the tem- 
ple ! Can you tell me why he was so anx- 
ious to see them ? 



GOING TO JERUSALEM. 25 



They went into the city, and spread their 
tent right in the street, or perhaps in some- 
body's yard ; and they staid there seven or 
eight days. Every morning, about nine 
o'clock, they went to the temple, and again 
at three o'clock in the afternoon. Why did 
they go at that hour ? On Thursday even- 
ing, they killed and ate the lamb which they 
brought with them. Why did they eat it 
then ? and what kind of bread did they eat 
with it ? 

At last the feast was all over, and the first 
day of the week — what day is that? was it 
the Sabbath among the Jews ? — on the first 
day of the week, they went up to the temple 
for the last time, and then started home. 
There was a great company, just as when 
they came. Many of them were relations; 
Joseph and Mary had brothers and sisters 
and cousins there, and Jesus had uncles and 
aunts. And they were all very fond of him, 
I am sure. When they were coming to the 
feast, he had sometimes traveled awhile with 
one of them, and sometimes with another. 
And his parents, knowing that he was a 



26 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



good boy, let him go about in the company 
wherever he pleased. 

They started from the temple, as I said, 
and went back toward Nazareth. They 
traveled on all day. Once Joseph said to 
Mary, "Do you know where Jesus is? I 
have not seen him since we started." 

"No," she answered; "but he is with 
some of our friends, talking about the feast. 
He will come to us, when we stop for the 
night." 

At last night came, and, about twenty 
miles from Jerusalem, they stopped, and 
pitched their tents. Mary got supper ready, 
but Jesus did not come. Then they went 
to the other tents, and asked after him ; but 
he was not to be found and nobody had seen 
him. Where could he be? They hurried 
all over the encampment; but could hear 
nothing of him. He must have been left in 
Jerusalem. Oh, how sad Joseph and Mary 
were ! It was dark then, so they laid down 
and tried to sleep. I am afraid that they 
did not succeed very well. Do you think 



GOING TO JERUSALEM. 27 



that your mother could sleep, if you were 
lost? 

Early in the morning, they left the rest 
of the company, and went back to Jerusa- 
lem. What happened there I will tell you 
in the next chapter. 

And now I want you to learn all you can 
about this feast that they went to keep in 
Jerusalem. When was it first kept? and 
why? 

Also, learn as much as you can about Je- 
rusalem, and the temple, and what they did 
there at nine o'clock in the morning, and at 
three o'clock in the afternoon. 



28 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 



HEN Joseph and Mary got to Jeru- 
salem, they went all over the city, 
looking and asking for their lost 
child. But that evening they could not find 
him. They had to lie down another night 
in anxiety and grief. 

Next morning they thought they would 
go up to the Temple. Perhaps they expected 
to find him there, and perhaps they only 
went there to pray. When people are in 
trouble they should always pray to God. 
Can you tell me why ? And can you find a 
verse in the Bible about God's being " a 
very present help in trouble?' 5 Where is 
it? 

When Joseph and Mary had climbed up 
the broad steps, they saw a good many old 
men sitting together, and talking. Those 



JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. 29 



old men were called Doctors — that is, teach- 
ers, because they spent all their time in 
studying the Law of Moses, and then taught 
what they learned to the people. Those 
doctors were old men. But right among 
them there was a little boy, and when he 
talked, they all listened to him. They 
seemed to wonder at him, because he knew 
so much about the Bible. That little boy 
was Jesus. Can you tell w T hy he loved so 
to talk about the Bible ? And what kind of 
a Bible had they at that time? Was it as 
large as the Bible we have ? Was it in Eng- 
lish or in some other language? 

When Joseph and Mary saw Jesus, they 
were very glad, and yet they felt angry too, 
because he had staid behind and given them 
so much trouble. His mother said to him, 
" Son, why hast thou dealt thus with us ? be- 
hold, thy father and I have sought thee sor- 
rowing." 

And he said unto them. " How is it that 
ye sought me ? wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father's business?" 

And they understood not what he meant. 



30 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



How could it be his Father's business to sit 
among the doctors "hearing them and ask- 
ing them questions?" Can you tell, chil- 
dren? Which of his fathers did Jesus 
mean? What is God's great business in 
this world? What does he send Bibles to 
us for, and give us ministers and Sabbath- 
school teachers ? Would you not have liked 
to be in that Bible-class in the Temple when 
Jesus was teacher? 

Jesus left the Temple and the Doctors, 
and went down to Nazareth with Joseph and 
Mary, and was subject to them. They were 
poor people, and had to work for a living, 
and Jesus worked with them, and worked 
for them. We believe that he was a car- 
penter, too, and helped his father build 
houses in Nazareth. 

Now, children, why did Jesus obey Joseph 
and Mary ? Do you think that he did it to 
set an example to little boys and girls ? Do 
you know what he says about honoring pa- 
rents ? And do you know of any child that 
does not obey that commandment, and does 
not follow the example of Jesus ? 



THE BAPTIST. 31 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BAPTIST. 

pESUS' mother had a cousin who 
lived at Hebron. This cousin had 
a son six months older than Jesus. 
He was a strange boy, and did not love to 
play as most children do, but would rather 
go off among the hills, and wander there 
alone. He was a very pious boy, and could 
not bear to see any one do wrong. 

Every body that saw this boy said that he 
would make a remarkable man. He would 
not drink any wine, or eat any rich food. 
He would not have his hair cut, or wear 
any but the plainest clothes. He grew up 
very strong, and very bold, too, so that he 
was not afraid to tell any body just what he 
thought. 

When he became a man, he went out from 
his father's house, and lived in the desert. 



32 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



He found locusts there — little things some- 
what like grasshoppers — -and in the old trees 
were swarms of bees that made honey. So 
he ate the locusts and the wild honey. His 
clothes were not made of broadcloth, but he 
had a kind of cloak made of coarse camel's 
hair, and he buckled this cloak around his 
waist with a leathern strap, and so he went 
dressed. He wandered about in the desert 
until he was thirty years of age. Then he 
went out to the towns where the people 
lived, and began to preach. He told them 
that they were very wicked, and that God 
wanted them to repent. He said that God 
had sent him to baptize all who were willing 
to forsake their sins, and that God would 
soon send somebody after him who would 
save them from their sins. And great crowds 
would get together to hear John preach, and 
some were angry when he told them about 
their wickedness, and some were sorry, and 
said they would try to do better, and then 
he took them down to a river that ran 
through Judea, and baptized them. And 
the people kept coming, and a great crowd 



THE BAPTIST. 33 



would stand on the bank all day, and the 
man dressed in camel's hair would tell them 
how wicked they were, and every now and 
then one would say : " It is true, I know, 
that I am wicked, but I mean to try to 
do better;" and he would go up to the 
preacher, and tell him, and would be bap- 
tized. This was called the " Baptism of Re- 
pentance." 

So he kept on eating locusts and wild 
honey, and preaching and baptizing for a 
good many weeks, perhaps for six months. 
The people often asked him if he was not 
the Savior that God had promised; but he 
always said, "No, I am not he, but am sent 
to go before him, and he will soon come." 

One day, the man dressed in camel's hair 
saw a young man in the crowd, that Grod 
told him was the Savior, and he cried out to 
the people: "There is one standing right 
among you, I am not worthy even to kneel 
down before him, and untie his shoes." 
And every body wondered who he meant. 
Pretty soon the young man came down to 
the shore, and said that he wanted to be 
3 



34 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



baptized. But the preacher would not bap- 
tize him at first. He said : " Do you come 
to me ? I ought to go to you, for you are a 
great deal better than I." But the young 
man said : " No, you must baptize me." 
And they went to the water together, and 
when the young man had been baptized, 
and came back from the water, he stopped, 
and, looking up to heaven, he prayed, and 
right above him the sky seemed to open, 
and a dove came down, and lighted on his 
head. And then a voice came out of the 
sky. It sounded very much like thunder, 
but it said, so that all the people could hear : 

" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." 

Now, I have a good many questions to 
ask, and some hard ones. 

Who was Mary's cousin, that lived in He- 
bron? and what was her husband's name? 
And what was his occupation? And what 
was the name of their son? Do people eat 
locusts nowadays? Do the men in Pales- 
tine dress as we do — or what kind of clothes 
do they wear ? 



THE BAPTIST. 35 



What is repentance? Does repenting 
make people any better? Was it foretold 
in the Old Testament that a prophet should 
be sent just before the Savior came ? Who 
was the young man that God called his be- 
loved Son? And what was the dove that 
descended upon him? Can you repeat a 
hymn about this "Heavenly Dove?" 



36 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER IX. 

THE TEMPTATION. 

jjFTER Jesus was baptized, and God 
called him his "beloved Son," he 
went away into the wilderness — 
that is, into a wild place, where nobody 
lives. He wandered about a number of 
days, without any thing to eat, until he be- 
gan to feel very hungry. Then some one 
met him in the wilderness. It was not 
some body, for I expect that it had no 
body. It was a spirit, and it went along 
with Jesus, and talked with him* And the 
spirit saw how hungry Jesus was, and it 
said to him : "Are you the Son of God ? " 
And Jesus said: "Yes, I am." Then it 
said again: "Can not the Son of God 
make any thing that he wants to?" "He 
can," Jesus answered ; for he makes every 
thing — the stars that shine, and the grain 



THE TEMPTATION. 37 



that grows. "Well, then/' whispered the 
spirit, "you are very foolish to suffer so 
here in the wilderness; take one of these 
stones and make it a loaf of bread. If 
you can make thousands of bushels of wheat 
grow every summer, surely you can make 
enough for your dinner." And Jesus knew 
that he could change the hard stones to 
bread ; but, hungry as he was, he would not 
do it. 

Can you tell me why he would not? 

Then they went away from the wilderness 
and traveled to Jerusalem. The spirit was 
close to Jesus all the time, but nobody 
could see it. And they went to the temple, 
and walked out to the wall, where it was 
very high. And the people saw Jesus walk- 
ing on the top of the wall, and, perhaps, 
some of them knew him, and said to one 
another: "There is the young man that 
John said was to come after him — look at 
him ! " And while they were looking, the 
spirit said: "This is a good time to show 
that you are the Son of God. Just throw 
yourself from this high wall, right among 



38 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



the stones down there. You can keep from 
getting hurt, for the angels will hold you 
up, and when the people see the miracle 
they will all believe in you." But Jesus 
said : " No ; " and to show why he did not 
do it, he quoted a verse out of the Old Tes- 
tament. You will find it in the 6th chapter 
of Deuteronomy. Can you explain this 
verse, and what Jesus meant by quoting it ? 
When the spirit could not get Jesus to 
throw himself down from the wall of the 
Temple, he pointed to a high mountain away 
off, and said : " Come, let us go there." And 
they went ; and when they stood on the top 
of the mountain they saw a great many 
towns, and cities, and farms. And the spirit 
said : " All this world is mine, and I can 
give it to whoever I choose. I will give it 
all to you, and make you the greatest king 
that ever lived, if you will only fall down 
and worship me. You have come from 
heaven to get this world back again. It 
serves me now instead of God. And you 
want it to serve God, as Adam did in Eden. 
You are going to suffer and die in order to 



THE TEMPTATION. 39 



get it back again. But there is an easier 
way — just kneel down and pray to me once, 
and you shall have the whole of it, right 
away, without any more trouble." 

What did Jesus say to this ? And what 
did the spirit do then? And what is the 
name of this spirit ? Does he ever talk to 
people nowadays? How do spirits talk? 
Does what they say seem as if we thought 
it ourselves? What is meant by tempta- 
tion? And what is the best way to resist 
temptation ? What kind of a weapon is the 
Bible called ? Has this spirit ever spoken to 
you ? Did you do what it told you to ? 



40 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER X. 

CALLING THE DISCIPLES. 

FEW days after the evil spirit went 
away, Jesus was walking on the 
shore of a beautiful lake, and on 
the lake were a great many boats, with men 
in them, catching fish. They had nets, 
which they let down into the water, and 
drew them up again, sometimes empty, and 
sometimes full of fish. In one boat, Jesus 
saw two brothers, called Simon and Andrew. 
They lived in a town near the lake, called 
Capernaum, and made their living by fish- 
ing. They were just throwing out their net 
Avhen Jesus saw them. He called out to 
them, and said : " Come, go with me, and I 
will teach you how to catch men — that is a 
great deal better than catching fish." As 
soon as they heard him, they threw their 
net down in the boat, and rowed to the 



CALLING THE DISCIPLES. 41 



shore, and there left their net and boat, and 
went with Jesus. He had no money to 
give them, no home to take them to ; but 
they followed him, day and night, for more 
than three years. Often they were hungry, 
and had no food ; often they were tired, and 
had no place to sleep ; often the people 
abused them for going with Jesus ; but still 
they followed him, They wanted to be 
" fishers of men." Do you know what 
Jesus meant by that ? Who are fishers of 
men nowadays? Would not some of my 
young readers like to be fishers of men ? 

Jesus went on a little further with Simon 
and Andrew, and soon they saw a boat by 
the shore, and three men sitting in it, mend- 
ing their nets. They were fishermen, too- — 
an old man named Zebedee, and his two 
sons, named James and John. And Jesus 
asked them to go with him; and they did 
not say, " We will finish our fishing, and go 
to-morrow." They did not ask any ques- 
tions even, but immediately left their net 
just as it was, and their father in the boat, 
and went with Jesus. 



42 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



They turned away from the lake, and 
went through a town, and soon they came 
to a place where people had to pay their 
taxes ; and there, in a little office, sat a 
man named Matthew, to collect the taxes. 
When Jesus got near enough, he said to 
him, just as he did to the fishermen, " Fol- 
low me." And right away Matthew left his 
office, and his tax-books, and his money, 
and went along. 

How strange that these men were willing 
to go with Jesus as soon as he asked them ! 
Can you tell me w^hy they were willing? 
And what were they called, because they 
went with him, and were taught by him? 
How many were there that went so with 
Jesus, and what were their names? 

And can you tell me something about 
that lake that the men were fishing in? 
What names has it in the Bible ? How 
long is it ? How wide ? Are there any 
fishermen there now? Are there many 
boats on the lake now? 



HOW JESUS LOOKED. 43 



CHAPTER XI. 

HOW JESUS LOOKED. 




jlHEN a great man comes among us, 
we are all anxious to know how he 
looks. " Is he tall ? " " Is he hand- 
some?" we ask. Now, it is natural that 
children, and older people too, should want 
to know how the Savior looked. Some 
persons have painted pictures of him, that 
is, of him as they think he. was. They 
guess at the color of his hair, and the shape 
of his face, and so on. Now, this is all 
very foolish; for if God had wanted us to 
know, he would have told us just how Jesus 
looked ; and since he has not told us, we 
must be willing to go without knowing, 
until we see him in heaven. 

I wish all of you would hunt in your 
Bibles for all the verses that tell any thing 



44 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



about the appearance of the Savior, and, in 
the meantime I will give you my own ideas 
about it. 

I do not think that Jesus was a very hand- 
some man, as some suppose. Some people 
tell us that the humanity of Christ was per- 
fect, because he was to be a perfect Savior. 
But I can not understand how a beautiful 
face, or a tall and straight body, should have 
any thing to do with his holiness of char- 
acter. Some of the best people that I 
have ever seen were very homely. Many 
cripples, and weak, sickly persons are 
very pious. They could not be pious if 
the Holy Spirit did not live in their hearts. 
And if he — the Holy Spirit — will often 
choose a poor body, full of pain, rather 
than a healthy and beautiful one, Christ 
may have done just the same, and lived 
here on earth in a body that was very plain- 
looking. 

And Christ dressed very plainly. You 
will find something about this in your Bible. 
He did not wear royal robes, like Herod, 
but wore such clothes as poor people wore 



HOW JESUS LOOKED. 45 



at that time. As he went over the country, 
people saw nothing very grand or showy 
about him. They did not say : " There goes 
the handsomest man in Judea ! " or " See 
what a splendid robe he has ! " but they 
called him u the carpenter's son/' and " the 
Galilean." 

But although Jesus may not have been a 
handsome man, or richly dressed, I am sure 
of one thing — that he was a good-looking 
man. 

Can you tell me the difference between 
being good-looking and handsome? And 
why Jesus must have been (/oodMooking ? 

I saw a young man the other day. He 
had fine brown hair, that curled beautifully 
all over his head. His eyes were large and 
bright; his face very regular, his cheeks 
red, and his form graceful. His clothes 
were fine, and fitted well. Many people 
would have said : " What a good-looking 
young man ! " But he was going along the 
street, puffing a cigar, and talking aloud 
with another young man, and every other 
word was an oath. And when he came to 



46 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



a muddy place, where a narrow board was 
laid across, he met a poor, lame boy, with 
a basket of apples on his arm, and saying, 
" Get out of the way, you brat ! " He pushed 
the little fellow into the mud, and spilled all 
his apples. And then, instead of being 
sorry, he only laughed, and swore another 
great oath, and went on. And as I saw 
this, I thought the young man was ugly- 
looking, in spite of his bright eyes and fine 
features. 

And as I was going to help the apple- 
boy, an old woman hobbled past me, and 
began picking the apples up for him, and 
wiping them with a corner of her ragged 
shawl. And she said : " Do n't cry, honey ! 
We will soon fix them all right. There, 
now, they are clean again ! Go sell them, 
and may God bless you ! " 

I looked into the old woman's face ; it 
was wrinkled and sunken, but there was so 
much kindness and cheerfulness shining 
over it, that I thought she was really hand- 
some. 

Now, children, how will you try to be 



HOW JESUS LOOKED. 47 



good-looking? Don't you think that the 
angels are all beautiful? And what is it 
that makes them so? And how can the 
plainest little boy or girl that reads this 
book look like an angel? 



48 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER XII. 

HOW JESUS LIVED. 

NTIL Jesus began to preach, he 
lived with his parents at Nazareth, 
They were not rich, but had to 
work for their living. Hence, they could 
not have had a fine house, or costly furni- 
ture, or have dressed their children in showy 
and expensive clothes. 

But after Jesus became a man, and God 
called him his " beloved Son," would you 
not expect him to live like a prince? The 
sons of Queen Victoria have the most splen- 
did and costly things, even when they are 
infants, because they are the children of a 
queen. The people of England give them 
a great deal of money every year from the 
time they are born. Now, Jesus' father, 
his real father, God, is King of all the 
earth. He is the greatest King that ever 



HOW JESUS LIVED. 49 



was or will be. He owned all the land of 
Israel — all its houses and palaces were 
his. Why, then, did he not take one 
of them for Christ to live in ? or why did 
he not build one on purpose, more beau- 
tiful than any in the world? He could 
have done it very easily, could he not? 
And since he did not, he must have had 
a good reason for not doing it. Can you 
tell me that reason? Think about it. 
Study in your Bible, and see what it says 
about this. 

Christ had no home — after he went out 
from the house of Joseph, the carpenter, in 
Nazareth, he had no home. He did not 
own a bed to sleep on at night. Though 
every little bird had its nest to go to when 
the sun went down — and the beasts in the 
fields had holes to crawl into — and there 
were folds for the sheep, and stables for 
the cattle, there was often no place but the 
cold mountains or the damp woods for the 
Son of God. Think of this, dear children, 
as you go home from school or from play 
to your pleasant homes — think of this as 
4 



50 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



you lie down in your nice beds to sleep. 
0, think that Jesus lived out of doors, and 
often had to sleep on the ground, with no 
covering but the blue sky ! 

The Savior had no money, except what 
people gave him now and then. He was 
often without a farthing. Can you find a 
passage in the Bible to prove this? He 
was often hungry, when he could get noth- 
ing to eat, and suffered just as you would 
if you had to go all day without any food. 
Can you find any thing about this in your 
Bible? 

The Savior lived just to do good — that 
was all he eared about. Do you remember 
about his stopping one day at Jacob's well ? 
He had had no breakfast that morning, and 
was so weak and weary that he could not 
go any further. While his disciples went to 
get bread, he found a poor, sinful woman, 
and began to tell her how to be good and 
happy, and he forgot that he was hungry. 
And when the bread came, he did not want 
it. He said it was Mb bread to do the will 
of God. He went all over the land, heal- 



HOW JESUS LIVED. 51 



ing sick, and lame, and deaf and dumb, and 
blind people. He did not take pay from 
any of them. All he received for his kind 
and mighty deeds was a dinner or a supper 
now and then. And those that asked him 
to come to dinner often treated him very 
rudely — -just as if they felt above him. Can 
you find an instance of this, where a Phari- 
see, to whose house he was invited, gave 
him no water to wash, and did not treat 
him at all as people in the East treat their 
visitors ? 

Jesus lived poor and despised — had no 
home — only a few friends, and they poor 
like himself. He worked hard — did a great 
deal of good — suffered much — was badly 
treated a great many times. Yet he never 
complained — and all this time he was the 
Son of God. 

Why, children, did he live so ? Are peo- 
ple any better or happier because they have 
plenty of money, and fine houses, and fine 
clothes ? What ought to be the first thing, 
and the great thing, for people to think 
about — something to eat, or to wear, or 



52 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



houses, or lands, or money? Will you live, 
like the Savior, to do good, or like the men 
and women around you, just to enjoy your- 
selves ? 



HOW JESUS WORKED MIRACLES. 53 




CHAPTER XIII. 

HOW JESUS WORKED MIRACLES. 

ERHAPS all of you have wondered 
at the many and mighty things that 
Jesus did while he was on earth. 
He made sick people well, he opened the 
eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. 
He fed a thousand hungry men with a sin- 
gle loaf. He raised the dead up out of their 
graves and made them alive again. 

I want you to study these miracles, and 
see what you can learn from them about 
Jesus ; for it is what people do that shows 
what they are. 

First, see how easily Jesus seemed to do 
these great things ! He would just touch a 
blind man's eyes, or break the loaf of bread, 
or say to the dead, "Arise!" He did not 
have to use medicine, as the doctors do, and 
try and try again. No; a word from him 



54 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



or a touch was enough. Can you give proof 
of this? And what do you learn from it 
about Jesus ? 

Secondly, see how quickly Jesus wrought 
his miracles. He did not rub his hand upon 
the eyes of the blind, and say, " Come again 
to-morrow," and so restore their sight after 
a while, but did it instantly. Find in your 
Bible how long was the longest time it took 
Christ to work a miracle. Then tell me 
how it was in the case of others to whom 
God gave power to work miracles. How 
long was Elijah in bringing the Shunamite's 
son back to life ? How long was Peter in 
restoring Dorcas? And how long was 
Christ in raising Lazarus? 

Thirdly, see how many different kinds of 
miracles Christ wrought. He not only 
healed diseases, but he made bread and 
wine ; he stilled tempests ; he walked on 
water ; he made trees wither away ; he 
brought a fish out of the sea with money in 
its mouth, and so on. 

See how many different kinds of diseases 
Christ healed, and how many other kinds 



HOW JESUS WORKED MIRACLES. 55 



of miracles he did. What do you learn 
from this great variety? 

Fourthly, see how ready Jesus was to 
work miracles for any body in distress who 
came to him. He was going along the 
road, very busy talking. A blind man was 
sitting on a stone by the roadside, and 
he cried out, " Have mercy upon me ! " 
The people that were listening to Jesus 
were angry because the blind man inter- 
rupted him. But Jesus was not angry. He 
stopped right away, and opened the blind 
man's eyes. 

Fifthly : Jesus did not work any of his 
miracles to make money by them, or to get 
any thing for himself; but they were always 
done for the good of others. When he was 
hungry, he did not make bread to feed 
himself, but when the five thousand men 
were hungry in the desert, he fed them by 
a miracle. 

Most of the people that he healed were 
poor, and had nothing to pay him but 
thanks. No doubt there were rich persons 
in Judea who Were sick, and lame, and 



56 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



blind. If Jesus had gone to them, and 
offered to heal them for money, he might 
have become very rich. Why did he not 
do so ? 

Finally, Jesus never boasted of his mira- 
cles. He did not say: ''See what wonder- 
ful things I can do ! " Nor did he make 
any display or parade of them. He did 
them when they were needed, did them 
quietly, and then went on teaching again. 

And now, what do you learn, children, 
from these miracles of Jesus ? How many 
do you think he wrought in all ? How 
many different kinds were there of them ? 
In how many different places did he, do 
them ? What did he want to prove by 
them ? Did every one who saw these mira- 
cles admit that Jesus was the Son of God? 
How did the Pharisees say that he worked 
miracles ? Why could it not have been 
done by the power of Satan? Is Satan 
able to raise the dead? Or even to open 
the eyes of the blind? If Satan worked 
miracles, would he not want to make money 
by them ? 



HOW JESUS PRAYED. 57 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOW JESUS PRAYED. 




| VERY body ought to pray. Is 
there any child who reads this 
book that never prays ? — that goes 
to bed at night without asking God to take 
care of it, and without thanking him for the 
home and the friends that he has given it ? 
I hope not. But saying prayers is not 
praying. What is real praying — such as 
God loves to hear? 

Christ prayed often — not just so many 
times a day, but whenever he felt the need 
of it. Can you count up in your Testa- 
ment, and tell me how many times it speaks 
there of the prayers of Christ ? 

Christ prayed long — he continued and 
wrestled in prayer. Do you remember 
about his going away off one evening, and 
climbing up a mountain, and spending the 



58 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



whole night in prayer? Did he do this 
more than once ? 

Although Christ prayed long, he did not 
use many words. Do you recollect about 
his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? 
It contained only twenty-one words. Can 
you repeat them? And yet those twenty- 
one words he repeated over and over, for 
about three hours. Do you know the prayer 
that Christ taught to his disciples ? It be- 
gins, " Our Father which art in heaven." 
It is called the Lord's Prayer, and every 
child should know it by heart. Well, it is 
a short prayer. It has all been written in- 
side of a ring only as large as half a dime. 

Again : Christ prayed very earnestly. In 
the Garden he fell down on the ground, and 
his sweat was like great drops of blood. 
And this was at midnight, and the night 
was so cold that people needed fire to warm 
themselves by ! Can you tell me where a 
fire was made that night, and who stood by 
it to warm himself? 

Christ prayed almost always for other 
people, and not for himself. We don't 



HOW JESUS PRAYED. 59 



know that he ever prayed for himself, ex- 
cept in Gethsemane, and even then it was 
because he was bearing our sins. Do you 
remember who he prayed for on the cross ? 

Did Christ pray in heaven before he 
came to this world? Why did he not? 
Had he any sins to ask forgiveness for? 
Did he need any thing from any body else ? 
Or was he not God, equal with the Father ? 
But does not Christ pray in heaven now? 
Who does he pray for? 

Dear children, if Christ prayed for us on 
earth, and prays for us in heaven, should 
we not pray for ourselves ? Should we not 
pray often, as he did ? Should we not pray 
for just what we want, and nothing else? 
Should we not pray earnestly for it — pray 
over and over again — pray all night even, 
as Christ did ? When a little child is hun- 
gry, it cries for food. It does not ask for 
playthings then, but keeps crying and cry- 
ing, over and over again : " Please give me 
something to eat." So if one of you wants 
to have a new heart, you should go and ask 
God for it. You should ask in earnest — 



60 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



ask often — ask over and over, and God will 
hear you. He wants to give you a new 
heart just as soon as you ask him for it in 
the right way — just as soon as you show, 
by your praying for it, that you really 
want it. 



HOW JESUS TAUGHT. 61 




CHAPTER XV. 

HOW JESUS TAUGHT. 

ESUS did not have a school for 
people to go to, and yet he was 
teaching all the time. He came 
down to this world to teach men, as well as 
to die for them. The Jews had a great 
many strange notions about God, and about 
praying, and being good, and going to 
heaven. They thought that if they only 
said so many long prayers every day, and 
fasted two days in every week, they might 
lie, and cheat, and do almost every thing 
bad, and yet God would love them, and 
make them happy. Can you tell me what the 
Savior calls these people, that had all their 
religion on the outside — who pretended to 
be very good, while their hearts were very 
wicked ? Do you think it does any good to 
pray unless the heart is in the prayer ? 



62 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



Jesus knew that these ideas of the people 
were all wrong, and would lead them to 
hell, and not to heaven. He wanted to 
teach them better. He wanted them to 
know that God looks at the heart. Hence, 
he was all the time explaining this to them, 
and he did it often by parables. Can you 
tell me what is meant by a parable ? Some 
things it is easy for us to understand, and 
some it is hard. And very often the thing 
that is hard is like something that is easy. 
When it is, a good teacher will explain the 
hard thing by the easy thing that is like it; 
and this is a parable. 

When Jesus wanted to tell the people 
that in order to be good, there must be a 
beginning in the heart, and that this was 
but a small beginning often, but that from it 
would grow good thoughts and good habits, 
so that the man would be getting better 
and better all the time; and that would be 
easy for him, too, because there was love 
in his heart — it was hard to make the Jews 
understand this. When any body talked 
about piety, or being good, they thought 



HOW JESUS TAUGHT. 63 



only of saying prayers and offering sacri- 
fices. And what did Jesus do then, in order 
to make it plain to them ? He picked up a 
little seed, and said to them : " See this 
seed ; how small it is ! But if you put it in 
the ground, it will sprout, and grow, and 
after a while it will become a large tree, and 
then the leaves will come out all over its 
branches, and, after a while, blossoms and 
fruit. They will come easily, naturally, 
because the tree is alive. The sap grows up 
from the root and starts the buds, and they 
open into leaves, and so on. If the tree 
was dead, you might work at it for years, 
and you could not make a single leaf or 
apple on it. 

In just this same way does love to God 
act. A man or a little child hears about 
the Savior — how he suffered and died for 
sinners, and he begins to think : " 0, how 
good he was ! 0, how much I ought to do 
for him ! I will try to do something. 5 ' This 
feeling is like the seed. The child begins 
to pray to God, and to study the Bible, and 
to try to keep the commandments, and to 



64 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



be like Christ. And the more it thinks 
about him and tries to serve him, the easier 
this becomes. Love grows in the heart. It 
comes up, like the sap of the tree, and 
makes our words and our actions lovely. 

You see, then, dear children, what a par- 
able is. I wish you would count in your 
Bibles how many parables Christ taught. 
You will find a great many, and some of 
them very beautiful. 



THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 65 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 




SUPPOSE you have all read the 
beautiful parable of the sheep and 
the shepherd. The sheep is a timid 
animal, and needs somebody to take care of 
it. It seems, also, to like those that feed 
it, and to have great confidence in them. 
In eastern countries there are men who do 
nothing all their lives but take care of 
sheep. They go out early in the morning, 
and the sheep follow them. The shepherd 
does not lead his sheep with halters, or drive 
them, but he goes wherever he wants them 
to go, and they go after him. 

It is a beautiful sight to see hundreds of 
sheep following their shepherd over the hills 
until they come to the place of pasture ! 
There the shepherd stops, and sits down, 
and the sheep begin to feed upon the grass. 
5 



66 



TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



While they feed, the shepherd watches them, 
and if he sees a wolf coming, he calls, and 
at once the sheep all run to him, and gather 
close together around him. If some care- 
less little lamb wanders away too far from 
the rest, the shepherd calls it by name (for 
he has a name for every one in the flock, 
and they all know their names;) and as soon 
as the lamb hears his voice, it comes to him 
like a child. How pretty a flock of sheep 
must look, feeding on the green hills, with 
their shepherd in the midst of them ! 

Do you know what Jesus wants to teach 
us by this parable? Who is the good Shep- 
herd ? And why does he say that he is 
the good Shepherd? What does he do for 
his sheep ? What does he give for them ? 

Suppose you saw a lion come out of the 
woods, close by where a little lamb was feed- 
ing, and spring upon the lamb, and begin to 
tear it to pieces. And suppose that the 
shepherd should run to the lion, and try to 
get the lamb away, and that the lion should 
leave the lamb, and begin to tear the shep- 
herd with his claws, and that the shepherd, 



THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 67 



in saving the lamb, should be wounded so 
badly that he died, would you not think that 
the shepherd loved the lamb very much? 
Would you not say that he was a good 
shepherd? Such a Shepherd you have. Do 
you know his name ? Who is the lion that 
is trying to devour you? And how does 
Christ save you? Do you not think, too, 
that Christ watches you all the time? Do 
you not think he knows when you are doing 
wrong? Have you never heard him call to 
you to come back to him ? Has not some- 
thing seemed to say in your heart, " Go and 
pray to Christ, and try to be good again ? " 
That was Jesus speaking to you. And as 
the sheep follow their shepherd, so you 
ought to follow Jesus. 

When night comes, the shepherd takes 
his sheep home with him. He has a place 
for them that is called a fold. There no 
wolf or other wild beast can get at them. 
Do you know that a night is coming to 
each of you, dear children ? That night is 
called death. When it comes, you will 
want a fold to enter — a place where the 



68 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



roaring lion can not go to devour you. 
Christ has such a fold. If you are his 
lambs, he will take you there. That fold 
is wide, and bright, and beautiful. It is 
full of trees, and streams, and mansions all 
along the golden streets. Do you know 
what it is called ? Would you not like to 
go there when you die? Will you not be 
one of Christ's lambs? 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 69 




CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 

you know why there are trees, 
and flowers, and bushes, and grass 
all over the ground? Does God 
make them, and put them there? Or do 
they not all grow from little seeds ? Did you 
ever see a seed ? It does not look as if it 
would ever grow, does it? An apple-seed 
does not seem as if it had a tree inside of 
it. But if you plant the apple-seed in the 
garden, where the ground is mellow, where 
the sun can shine and the rain can fall upon 
it, after a while a little green thing will burst 
out from it, and grow up to the top of the 
ground. It is so soft that you could crush 
it with your foot if you trod upon it. But 
the germ keeps on growing, and soon it is 
a little tree, with bark and leaves. And 
then it begins to have buds and branches; 



70 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



and after a while it is a great tree, so that 
men can stand under it and gather from it 
bushels of ripe fruit. All those baskets and 
barrels, full of beautiful apples, which you 
see in autumn, have come from the planting 
of little seeds in good ground. 

If you take that seed and lay it on a 
rock, it will not grow, but the sun will dry 
it up until it is all withered and dead. If 
you put the seed out in the hard, dusty 
road, where horses and wagons are going 
all the time, it will not grow. If you put it 
among weeds, they will cover it so that the 
sun can not get to it to make it germinate, 
and it will never become a tree and bear 
fruit. 

You see, then, that the seed must be put 
in the right place, or it will do no good. 
And just so it is with what the Bible 
teaches, and with what ministers preach, 
and with what uncle Jesse prints in this 
book. Truth that you are told — truth about 
your own hearts, about Christ, and about 
the way to be good, is just like the apple- 
seed. If you are careless about it ; if you 



THE SOWER AND THE SEED. 71 



do not try to remember it and think of it ; if 
your mind is full only of play, then it will be 
as useless to you as seed on the rock, or in the 
road, or among the weeds. It will not make 
you any wiser, or any better, or any hap- 
pier. But if you try to understand what you 
read and hear — if you think about it, it will 
begin to grow in your heart as the little seed 
grows in the ground. And the reason is, that 
you keep your heart mellow by thinking 
about it, just as a gardener keeps his garden 
mellow by digging in it. 

When you learn about Christ — how he 
suffered and died for you, and how he loves 
little children — if you keep it in your mind, 
you will begin to love Christ ; you will want 
to learn more about him ; you will want 
to pray to him; and you will find a great 
deal of pleasure in thinking about him, and 
Christ will smile upon you, as the sun 
shines on the plants; and the Holy Spirit 
w^ill come to you as gently as the dew 
comes to the flowers ; and your mind will 
grow in the knowledge of good things, and 
your heart will grow in the love of them, 



72 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



and you will be kept from a great many 
wicked thoughts and unhappy feelings. 
You will be a good and happy child; you 
will grow up to be useful in the world, and 
when you die, God will take you to heaven. 

Remember, then, dear children, about 
these little seeds. Your parents are trying 
to plant them in your hearts. And your 
Sabbath-school teacher is trying, and your 
minister is trying, and uncle Jesse is trying. 
Receive them into good ground, so that 
they may do you good. 

The parable that this lesson is taken from 
you will find in your Bible. I will not tell 
you where, for I want you to hunt it up, 
and to study it. 



THE VINE AND BRANCHES. 73 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

THE VINE AND BRANCHES. 




ID you ever see a grapevine full of 
ripe grapes? How beautiful it is, 
with its clusters of purple fruit 
among the green leaves ; and how sweet 
those clusters are ! But how did the grape- 
vine become so large and full of leaves and 
grapes? A few years ago, a little root 
that looked just like a stick, was put into 
the ground, and the water in the ground 
went into the root, and the sun shone upon 
it; and after a while a little branch came 
out on one side of it, and then another on 
the other side of the black-looking stick ; 
and then branches grew, and other branches 
came out through the bark of these two, 
and so on, until the vine covered a large 
frame that had been built for it ; and then, 
all over the branches came out leaves, and 



74 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



blossoms, and fruit. Now, the reason that 
the vine kept growing was, that the root 
remained in the ground, where it could 
drink in the moisture, and that all the 
branches were united with the root. If 
any of the branches should be cut off from 
the vine, they would stop growing, and, in 
a few days, would wither up and be dead ; 
and if a little branch or bud should be 
brought from any other vine and grafted 
into this, it would begin, right away, to 
draw sap from the root, and would bear 
leaves and grapes, just like the other 
branches. 

You see, then, how it is that vines grow, 
and why the branches on the vine are so 
beautiful ; you see where they get their 
leaves and their grapes. If there was no 
vine, with its root in the ground, the 
branches would all die. Every moment 
they have to be drawing up sap from the 
root. This is what they live on; this is 
what they make their leaves and fruit out 
of. Thus the branches would be good for 
nothing without the vine. 



THE VINE AND BRANCHES. 75 



Now, this is one of Christ's parables. 
He says, in the Bible, " I am the vine, ye 
are the branches." He is speaking to his 
disciples who loved him; and every body 
that loves him is one of his branches; for 
those that love him try to get near to him, 
by praying, reading the Bible, and thinking 
about him. In this way, they get their 
minds full of truth about Christ, and their 
hearts full of love to him ; and this truth 
and love are like the sap in the grapevine ; 
they make good and happy thoughts grow 
within us. They lead us to be kind and 
gentle, to try to do right, and to make 
others good and happy. This is what Christ 
means by telling us that he is the vine, and 
asking us to be branches. It is a beautiful 
parable, and one that I hope all my young 
readers will study. 

What is more beautiful than a good child, 
one that is always pleasant, and always try- 
ing to be useful! How her eyes sparkle! 
What a sweet smile upon her lips ! What 
a bright color in her cheeks ! She is like 
a branch covered with flowers and fruit ! 



76 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



But a child that is willful, and cross, and 
disobedient, has red swollen eyes, and 
pouting lips, and scowling face — nobody 
loves such a child. It is like a stick with- 
out any leaves or fruit, and with its bark 
all shriveled up ! 

Which will you be, the branch that is in 
Christ, the child that loves to read and 
think about him, and pray to him; or will 
you be the branch that is cut off from him 
because it does not love him ? 

You can not be good and happy without 
Christ. If you try alone, it will be just as 
foolish as if a branch should try to bear 
grapes when it was cut off from the vine. 
You must go to him ; read about him, think 
about him, pray to him, and get his Spirit in 
your heart, or you will be cast out as a dead 
branch, that is fit only to be burned. 



THE FIG-TREE. 77 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FIG-TREE. 




OU have seen figs, packed in small, 
round boxes. But perhaps you 
never saw them grow. There are 
very few fig-trees in this country. Our 
climate is too cold for them. The few that 
we have require a great deal of care, and, 
after all, do not grow to their full size or 
bear much fruit. In Palestine, or the Holy 
Land, where Jesus was when on earth, there 
are a great many fig-trees. They are as 
common as apple-trees are with us, and th© 
fruit, when ripe and fresh, is delicious. The 
figs that we buy in stores are good, but are 
no more like the figs of Palestine than dried 
apples are like the ripe apples, so mellow 
and juicy, that we pick from the trees in 
autumn. 



78 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



The people of Palestine think a great 
deal of their fig-trees. They build walls 
around the orchards where they grow, to 
keep the cattle from destroying them ; they 
dig about their roots, to keep the ground 
mellow, and do all they can to make them 
grow large and bear a great many figs. 

One day, while Christ was preaching to 
the people, he told them a story about a 
certain fig-tree. A man had planted it, 
when it was a little scion, in his vineyard. 
He spaded up the ground, and made it as 
rich as he could; then, year after year, he 
cut the weeds away, and dug around the 
roots, and when the ground became dry, he 
carried water out into the vineyard and 
watered his young fig-tree. He expected 
that, when it grew large enough, it would 
bear figs for him, and that, in this way, 
he would be repaid for all his labor and 
care. 

The tree grew. The spring came. It 
was full of leaves, but not a blossom could 
be seen. Autumn came, and other people 
were gathering their figs, but he had none 



THE FIG-TREE. » 79 



to gather. He was almost tempted to cut 
his tree down and burn it, but he thought 
that he would wait another year. Spring 
came again, and there was no blossom ; 
autumn came again, and there was no fruit. 
He was angry and discouraged, but thought 
he would try once more. He dug about 
the tree, he manured it, he watered it. He 
felt sure that this time he would not be dis- 
appointed. But the next season passed, 
and not a fig grew on his tree. At last he 
cut it down and threw it into the fire. He 
did not want to keep a tree in his vineyard 
that would not bear any fruit. He did not 
want to take care of and work about a tree 
that had nothing on it but leaves ! 

Do you blame this man, children, for cut- 
ting down his fig-tree ? Was it not right 
for him to want to get it out of the way, 
and to get a better one in its place? 

But do you know what Christ meant by 
telling this story ? Suppose that God places 
a little boy or girl in a home that is as safe 
and pleasant for it as the vineyard was for 
the fig-tree. Suppose that he gives it pa- 



80 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



rents and Sabbath-school teachers, to tell it 
how to be good and happy. Suppose that 
he gives it the Bible and other good books. 
Do you not think that that little boy or girl 
ought to love God, and to do what God 
wants it to, and to obey its parents, and to 
be kind, cheerful, and useful ? Do n't you 
think that God has a right to expect fruit 
from his fig-trees that he plants in such 
good places? And when God sees such 
children disobedient and cross, must he not 
feel as the man did about the fig-tree ? 
Must he not think, " I had better cut it 
down, for it will do no good ! " 

Last year, was not God very kind to you ? 
Did he not do a great deal for you? And 
what did you do for him? Were you a 
barren fig-tree ? And is it not strange that 
he spared you as he did? 

People should not expect God to let them 
live unless they try to be useful. He often 
spares wicked men a great many years, but 
it is only because of his great goodness. 
They do not deserve to be spared. 



THE FIG-TREE. 81 



I want you to find this parable about the 
fig-tree, and to study it. I want you to 
think about all that God has done for you, 
and to begin to try to bear fruit for him. 
Will you? 
6 



82 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 



N all the towns in the East there is 
an open square that is called the 
market-place. It is not like our 
market-houses, to sell meat and vegetables 
in, but people go there to talk with each 
other and to hear the news. When the men 
are not in the market-place, it is a fine place 
for children to play in, and they often have 
merry times there* 

One day Christ told the Jews a parable 
about the children in the market-place. He 
said that some of them were cross and 
sulky. When the others said, u Come, now, 
let us blow our trumpets, and play a wed- 
ding!" they answered, "No, we don't feel 
like being merry to-day. We do n't want to 
dance and sing, as they do at wedding ! " 
" Well, then," the other children say, " we 



CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 83 



will play any thing that you choose. If 
you don't feel like singing and dancing, 
and playing wedding, we will walk slow, and 
look sorry, and cry, and play a funeral." 
And they began to form a procession, as if 
they were going to the graveyard, and to 
mourn aloud, as people do at funerals in the 
East. But the cross ones were no better 
pleased with this play than with the other. 
They stood still, and would not join in the 
funeral procession. They were determined 
not to be satisfied with any thing. When 
their companions piped, they would not 
dance, and when they mourned, they would 
not lament. 

Don't you think that these were very 
unhappy children? Now, Christ says that 
all wicked people are just like them ; yes, 
all wicked people, no matter how young 
or how old they are. When sin is in the 
heart, it makes us unhappy. It makes us 
dissatisfied with what God does. It makes 
us murmur and fret when we ought to be 
thankful and glad. If God sends rain, 
wicked men and wicked children cry out : 



84 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



" dear, it always rains just when I want 
to go out ! " They forget that, without rain, 
there would be no grass, or flowers, or fruit. 
If God sends sunshine, they are no better 
pleased. " The sun is so hot, and the roads 
are so dusty ! " 

When they are well, they do not thank 
God for it, and take care of their health, 
but eat every thing that they like, no matter 
how unwholesome, and expose themselves 
to damp air and other things that they know 
will make them sick. And when they do get 
sick, instead of thinking that it was their 
own fault, and asking God to forgive them 
for being so foolish, they complain, as if he 
ought to keep them well in spite of them- 
selves. 

The only way to be contented and happy 
is to get sin out of the heart — to learn to 
love God and to trust in Christ — to say, 
when it rains or shines, when we are in 
health or sick — in every place and all the 
time, "He doeth all things well!" This 
feeling makes the angels happy in heaven. 
They are never cross and sulky. They 



CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 85 



never complain of God, but they serve him 
and praise him all the time. 

If any reader of this book wants to be an 
angel, the way is to begin by loving God; 
by thanking him for all the good things he 
gives you ; by feeling that he is a great 
deal kinder and better to you than you de- 
serve. Do this, and you will be contented, 
you will be happy. You will have a little 
heaven in your own heart, no matter 
whether it rains or shines, whether you are 
rich or poor, sick or well. 



86 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

THE NEGLECTED SUPPER. 

NB day, a man in the East pre- 
pared a great supper. He was 
rich and had plenty of servants, so 
he set them all at work killing oxen, and 
sheep, and lambs to roast, making bread, 
and cakes, and butter, gathering honey and 
all kinds of fruit. They were busy many 
days, and the rich man thought that he 
would give his friends the greatest supper 
that they had ever seen. He was sure that 
they would all be very much pleased when 
they received their invitations, and would 
come. At last, when the feast was ready, 
he told his servants to go and invite the 
people. He sent them to every one of his 
friends, and they said to each, u Our master 
has prepared a great feast, and he wants 
you to come to it." 



THE NEGLECTED SUPPER. 87 



One of these friends said : " Tell your 
master that I haven't time to go to his feast ; 
I am very busy; I have just been buying 
forty acres of land, and I want to go and 
see it." He did not even thank him for the 
invitation. 

Another said : " Why, I 've just been 
buying five yoke of oxen, and I must go 
and try how well they can work. Tell 
your master that I care more for my oxen 
than I do for him, and that I can't go." 

A third one said: "Your master must 
excuse me, indeed he must, for I have just 
been getting married, and, of course, I can 
not leave my wife to attend his supper." 

So every body had some excuse for not 
going, and the servants went back and told 
their master. He thought it was too bad 
that, when he had taken so much pains to 
prepare a supper for his friends, none of 
them would come. He felt very much 
grieved because they made so many excuses, 
and did not even want to come at all. And 
he said to his servants : " Our supper is 
ready — it will spoil if we do not find some 



88 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



body to eat it. Go out into the street, and 
into the lanes and alleys, and hunt up all 
the poor people — the beggars, the blind, 
and the lame. No matter how ragged they 
look, bring them in. I will give to each of 
them a new dress, and they shall eat my 
great supper/' And the servants did so, 
and they made the poor, hungry, ragged 
people come, and the rich man's house was 
full of them ; and they were all dressed in 
clean, new clothes, which the rich man gave 
them, and never was there such a feast 
before ! 

Now, dear children, this is not a story 
that uncle Jesse has made up, but is one 
of Christ's parables. He means to teach 
you something by it. Do you know what 
is meant by this great supper ? Have you 
ever heard a hymn that begins : 

" Come, sinner, to the royal feast! " 

Do you know any body that the Savior has 
invited to sup with him, and would not — 
who said by his conduct, I would rather 
play with my playthings, or read this silly 



THE NEGLECTED SUPPER. 89 



story-book, or think about my clothes, than 
to love Christ, and have him love me ? Do 
you know any such person ? And do you 
not think that he is a very foolish person? 
And even if a little boy or girl is doing so, 
must they not be very foolish, like the men 
that would not go to the great supper ? 



90 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER XXII. 

THE WEDDING GARMENT. 

•fOU remember, children, the supper 
that I told you about in the last 
chapter, Matthew says it was a 
wedding supper; that the rich man's son 
had just been married, and that it was for 
him the feast was prepared. The people in 
our country buy nice clothes for themselves 
when they go to a wedding, but in the East, 
the man who invites them gives every body 
a new dress to wear at the supper. As 
soon as the poor people were brought into 
the rich man's house, they were sent into a 
room full of clothes, and were told to take off 
their old rags and dress themselves in fine 
new garments. They were all very glad to 
do so. They were as much pleased to get 
the new clothes as to get the supper. 
I said all — but no, I am mistaken ; there 



THE WEDDING GARMENT. 91 



was one man in a ragged, dirty coat, who 
would not take it off and put on a better 
one. He said that it was good enough, 
and that the rich man had no business to 
ask him to take a better one ; that he 
wanted to eat the supper, but he meant 
to do it in his own clothes. The others 
thought he was a very foolish man. They 
urged him to put on one of the wedding 
garments. They said that the rich man 
would be angry if he did not ; that his beg- 
gar's dress was not fit to go to such a 
grand supper in, and, finally, that he had 
no business to come to the supper at all, 
unless he would come just as he was invited 
to ; that if he was not willing to wear a wed- 
ding garment, he ought not to come to the 
wedding. But the man would not listen to 
them. He was one of those silly people 
that will always have their own way ; so he 
marched into the banquet hall in his rags, 
as proud as he was filthy. Soon the rich 
man came in. He looked all along the 
table, and saw this ragged fellow among 
the clean and well-dressed people, and he 



92 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



went to him and said : " How did you come 
here ? Why have you not a wedding gar- 
ment on, like the rest?" 

And in a moment the man saw how fool- 
ish he had been, and he hung down his head 
and could not say a word. And then the 
rich man called his servants, and told them 
to put him out of doors, where it was cold 
and dark. And they did so. And the 
poor foolish man could only look in through 
the windows and see the others enjoying 
the feast. And he cried and gnashed his 
teeth together, he was so hungry and cold, 
and so angry with himself for what he had 
done. 

Children, would any of you act like that 
man? Don't you think that he was very 
foolish, and deserved to be put out from the 
feast? Well, children, this is a parable, 
and it means you. God has prepared a 
great supper for us in heaven. He asks us 
all to come and enjoy it. He wants to 
make us happy there, not for one evening 
only, but forever. But he tells us to put 
on the "righteousness of Christ" for our 



THE WEDDING GARMENT. 93 



wedding garment. He means by this that 
we are to love Christ and to trust in him, 
and to place all our hope of heaven in what 
he has done for us. He means that we are 
to be Christians. Are you a Christian? 
Do you love Christ, and trust him, and try 
to serve him ? And if not, do you expect to 
go to heaven ? Do you expect to sit down 
at the marriage supper of the Lamb ? 

God, who made the supper, has a right 
to say what we shall wear at it. He has a 
right to say how we shall come there ; and 
if we neglect Christ, and die with the rags 
of our sins around us, he will not let us into 
heaven, but he will turn us out into that dark 
place, where there is weeping and gnashing 
of teeth. 



94 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER XXIII 

FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. 

EE that crowd of people ! Men, 
women, and children, at least ten 
thousand of them. They are not 
in a city, or near one. No, they are away 
out in the wilderness— out where there are 
no houses — out where nobody lives, and 
where nothing grows but bushes and trees. 
There they have been three days, and had 
nothing to eat. How hungry they must 
have been! Why did they stay there so 
long with nothing to eat? Why did they 
not go home, or to some town where they 
could buy bread ? I will tell you why : 
They were listening to Jesus ; they wanted 
to hear him tell about God and heaven, 
and they loved so to hear him that they 
almost forgot that they were hungry. But 
on the third day they became very faint; 



FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. 95 



they were too weak to go home then. Jesus 
saw it, and felt sorry for them. But what 
could he do ? He had only five loaves and 
two fishes. That was hardly enough for 
him and his disciples. He told all the peo- 
ple to sit down on the grass ; then he sent 
for the five loaves and two fishes. The peo- 
ple all wondered what he was going to do. 
Was he going to cut each loaf into two 
thousand pieces, and give every one a 
crumb? He did not explain what he meant, 
but, with the bread before him, began to 
pray. After he had asked God, his father, 
for a blessing, he took up a loaf and broke 
it, but as soon as he did so, each half became 
larger than the whole loaf had been before. 
And then he broke the halves again, and 
then there were four large loaves instead 
of one ; and so he went on, until there lay 
all around him, on the grass, thousands of 
loaves — a great heap of bread. And then 
the disciples took baskets full of the bread 
and carried it to the hungry people, and 
they all ate of it, and of the fishes, too, 
until they were filled. 



96 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



And after the ten thousand people were 
done eating, there was bread enough left to 
fill seven baskets. A great deal more was 
left, you see, than the five loaves that Jesus 
asked a blessing on ; so that he made bread 
enough for all that crowd of people while 
he was breaking the loaves. 

There is something very wonderful in 
this — do n't you think so, children ? Well, 
they call it a miracle, and the word miracle 
means " a wonderful thing." We will talk 
about miracles in the next chapter, and ex- 
plain to you what we are to learn from 
them. 



MIRACLES. 97 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

MIRACLES. 

PROMISED to explain some things 
about miracles. You remember how 
31 Christ made the five loaves of bread 
feed seven thousand men, besides women and 
children. I told you that, as he brake the 
loaves, every piece grew twice as large as 
it was before, and so on, until there were 
more than a thousand loaves instead of five. 
Now, some people say that such a thing is 
impossible, and that they can not believe it. 
But they must be very ignorant people, as 
you will see presently. What is bread 
made of? Is it not from flour? and is not 
flour grains of wheat ground up? Then, 
where does wheat come from ? Do men 
find it all over the ground, like stones? 
" 0, no ! " you answer, " it grows." But 
why does it grow ? " Because somebody 
7 



98 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



sows it." Yes, the farmer takes a few 
quarts of wheat, and puts them in the 
ground, and after a while he has many 
bushels ! What makes so much wheat from 
a few seeds? Does the ground do it? or 
the sun, or the showers? or do they all 
agree to do it ? You say : " No ; for the 
ground, and the sun, and the showers have 
no minds to plan such things, and no 
tongues to talk about them. God makes 
the wheat. He uses the ground, and the 
sun, and the rain in doing it, but he could 
make it without them if he chose. He 
must have made the first kernel of wheat 
so, for there was no seed to plant before 
it was made, and the ground, and the sun, 
and the rain can not do any thing without 
seeds. 

Well, if God can make thousands and 
thousands of fields full of wheat every sum- 
mer, could he not make a hundred bushels 
of wheat right away ? Does it seem to you 
any harder to make a hundred bushels of 
grain in a minute, than to make millions 
and millions of bushels in a few months, as 



MIRACLES. 99 



God does every year? And if God could 
make one hundred bushels of wheat in a 
minute, do you not think that he could just 
as easily make a thousand loaves of bread ? 
Would it not be just as easy for him to make 
bread as to make wheat? 

When people tell you that they can not 
believe in these miracles (or wonderful 
things) that are told in the Bible, just ask 
them if they believe that wheat and corn 
grow every year. And then ask them who 
makes it all grow ? Then ask them if they 
do not think it is as wonderful to make 
grain enough, in four or five months, to feed 
the eight hundred millions of people in the 
world, as to make bread enough in a minute 
to feed seven thousand men? Tell them 
that miracles just as wonderful are happen- 
ing every year and every day. 



100 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 




CHAPTER XXV. 

THE BLIND MEN. 

S Jesus was going up from Jericho 
to Jerusalem, he saw two men sit- 
ting by the side of the road. They 
staid there all day, to beg of the people that 
passed by. Why did they not work, instead 
of begging? They were blind. It was 
night, dark night to them all the time. No 
matter how bright the sun shone, or how 
beautiful the fields looked, the poor blind 
men could not see any thing. 

Do you not think that it must be very 
hard to be blind ? These men thought so, 
and when they heard that Jesus was com- 
ing along the road, they cried out : " Have 
mercy on us, Lord, thou son of David ! " 
And Jesus stopped as soon as he heard 
them, and asked them what they wanted of 
him, and they said that they wanted him to 



THE BLIND MEN. 101 



open their eyes. And Jesus went close to 
the two blind men, and put out his hands, and 
just touched their eyes, and as soon as he 
did so their eyes were opened. They saw the 
light; they saw the earth and the sky; they 
saw Jesus and all the people around him. 
How strange that just touching the eyes of 
the blind men should make them see ! 

When people have weak eyes or sore 
eyes, doctors can sometimes cure them ; but 
no doctors in the world ever tried to cure 
blind people. Only God can do that. And 
why can God do it ? Does he not make all 
our eyes? And if he makes them for us 
when we are born, can he not make them 
afterward if he chooses ? So you see that 
this miracle is done over and over again 
every time a little baby gets eyes to see 
with, and that God has had mercy on all of 
us as well as on the two blind men of Jericho. 
He might have left us all without eyes, and 
then we would have had to crawl about and 
feel our way. We could not have seen any 
of the beautiful things that the world is full 
of. 0, what a mercy to us, dear children, 



102 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



are these eyes that can look in a moment 
to the sun and the stars! Do you ever 
thank God for them ? 

But, children, though you have each of 
you two bright eyes, yet you are blind. 
God says that all sinners are blind, and we 
are sinners. The eyes of our souls are dark- 
ened, and we do not see God and heaven by 
faith, as we should. We do not remember 
that God sees us all the time, and that any 
moment we may die, and have to go and 
answer before him for all that we have done. 
We ought to have our minds open all the 
time to these things, on which our future 
happiness depends. But we will not, unless 
God touches our hearts, and makes us think 
about them and feel them. 

Pray, then, to him ! Pray as the blind 
men did : " Have mercy upon me, Lord, 
thou son of David, and open the eyes of 
my understanding! Help me to see thee 
by faith — to love thee and to serve thee, so 
that, when I die, I may go and live with 
thee forever! 5 ' 



THE DEAF AND DUMB MAN. 103 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE DEAF AND DUMB MAN. 




HILE Jesus was walking by the 
sea of Galilee, the people brought 
a man to him who was deaf and 
dumb. The rest all talked to Jesus, and 
heard what he said; but the poor man that 
they brought could not say a word or under- 
stand one. He could only make noises, like 
those that animals make. Do n't you think, 
children, that it must be very hard to be 
deaf and dumb ; not to hear the birds sing ; 
not to hear the kind voices of our friends ; 
not to be able to tell them what we want, 
or how we feel ? 

There are many such people. We build 
asylums for them, and there they learn to 
talk with each other by signs. The signs 
they make with their fingers. It is a strange 
sight to see deaf and tlumb people talking 



104 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



with their fingers. And at the asylums they 
are taught a great many things. But in the 
time when Christ was on earth, there were 
no asylums for the deaf and dumb, and the 
man that was brought to Jesus by the sea 
of Galilee must have led a very sad and 
lonely life. 0, how often he must have 
wished that his ears were opened and that 
his tongue was loosed, so that he could hear 
and talk like other people ! 

When his neighbors heard that Jesus was 
coming along that way, they said to one 
another : " Let us take him to this great 
prophet, and see if he can cure his deaf- 
ness;" and so they went. 

And when Jesus saw the man, he pitied 
him, and he took him away from the crowd, 
and put one of his fingers on each of his 
ears and touched his tongue with his own, 
and looked up to heaven, and said: "Be 
opened ! " And right away the man's ears 
were opened, and his tongue was loosed, and 
he heard, and began to talk. The people 
were astonished. Such a thing had never 
been seen or heard of before. No man had 



THE DEAF AND DUMB MAN. 105 



ever been able to make a deaf man hear and 
talk. But God, who gave us all our tongues 
and our ears — who made our tongues to ar- 
ticulate sounds, and our ears to receive 
them, and tell the one from the other — God 
could make all the deaf and dumb people 
hear and speak in a moment if he chose. 
And when we see Christ curing a deaf and 
dumb riian without any medicine — by just 
touching his ears — we 'know that Christ 
must have been God. I will explain, in 
another chapter, the difference between the 
miracles of Christ and those of good men, 
like the apostles and prophets. 

Two things I want you to think about : 
One is, w T hy Jesus sighed when he said, "Be 
opened?" Did he have to suffer himself 
when he relieved others ? And the other 
is, do you know of any one whose soul is 
deaf — of any one to whom God speaks again 
and again, and who pays no attention to 
his voice? 



106 TALKS ABOUT JESUS 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

PETER AND JOHN'S MIRACLE. 



9EiS| PROMISED to show you, children, 
n pi the difference between miracles 
=2£=9S wrought by good men and those 
wrought by Christ. We will look at the 
first miracle of the disciples after the Savior 
had gone back to heaven. 

About three o'clock one afternoon, Peter 
and John went to the Temple in Jerusalem. 
At that hour every day there was a sort of 
prayer-meeting, and pious people loved to 
go and join in the worship of God. Now, 
in Jerusalem there was a poor lame man. 
He could not work, and lived by begging. 
This man thought that people who prayed 
a good deal would be likely to give more 
to the poor than those who did not pray, so 
he had himself carried every afternoon to 
the Temple, and he lay down by one of the 



PETER AND JOHN'S MIRACLE. 107 



doors, and whenever any body was about to 
go in, he held out his hand to them, and 
said: "Please give something to a poor lame 
man!" 

When Peter and John came along, he 
asked them as he did the rest. But they 
were poor too ; they had no money. Peter 
told him so, and then was going on into the 
Temple. But he remembered how often 
Christ had healed such sufferers, and that 
Christ had said, " Ask, and ye shall receive ;" 
"Lo,I am with you always ;" " Greater works 
than mine shall ye do," etc. He prayed a 
moment, and felt that God had heard him. 
Then he turned to the lame man, and said : 
" In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 
rise up and walk!" The man looked at 
him astonished. Then Peter took hold of 
his right hand and lifted him up, and the 
man tried to rise, and as he tried, his feet 
and ankles became strong, and in a moment 
he was leaping all about with joy. How 
pleasant it must have been to him to be 
able to walk, after lying on his bed for 
years ! No wonder that he praised God. 



108 TALKS ABOUT JESUS. 



You see that Peter did not use any med- 
icine. He just lifted the man up, and he 
was well right away. The miracle was 
done just as quickly as those that Christ 
himself did, and just as easily. . What, then, 
was the difference? What did Christ say 
when he healed people, or made the dead 
alive ? Did he say : " In the name of God, T 
bid you rise, or be well ? " No ; but he said : 
" Be opened ! " * Be healed ! ■-* - "1 say unto 
thee, arise!" He spake just as if he him- 
self had power to cure diseases and to raise 
the dead. But. when Peter wanted to heal 
the lame man, he said : " In the name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth ! " He knew that 
he could not do any thing of himself, but 
believed that Christ could hear him, and 
could heal the man, just as he used to heal 
people when on earth. And in the name 
of Christ the man was healed. Christ did 
it, and not Peter. 

So you see that the miracles which the 
disciples did showed Christ's power and his 
goodness just as much as those that he did 
himself. Peter told the people so in the 



PETER AND JOHN'S MIRACLE. 109 



Temple that very afternoon. Get your 
Bibles, and read what he said, in the third 
chapter of Acts. 

If Christ had not been God, it would have 
been wicked for him to pretend to heal peo- 
ple in his own name. If he had been a man 
only, or even an angel, he would have had 
to pray, as Peter did, and to have said: "I 
heal you in the name of God." " God does 
it because I pray to him." But Christ al- 
ways said that he had power in himself to 
do these miracles, and he did them; and that 
is one of the ways in which we know that 
he was really the Son of God. If he had 
not been God, he could not have done such 
things in his own name, and God would not 
have done it for him, while he was telling a 
lie — while he was pretending to be Divine 
when he was not. 



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